While public charging stations have been increasing, EV drivers sometimes have to find readily accessible alternatives – including charging at someone’s house, hotels, or campgrounds. Utilities, municipalities, workplaces and startups have all ramped up their investment in the infrastructure to calm fears.

Private individuals are participating in shared networks to make sure EV drivers can make it home. The charging network has earned the nickname “Airbnb of charging,” comparing it to the Airbnb network of homeowners offering affordable rental rooms to travelers.

The U.S. now has 13,925 public electric charging stations, or 34,378 outlets, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. PlugShare, a mobile app, maps out tens of thousands of additional outlets from private residents, according to the company.

PlugShare helps EV drivers find charging, mostly for free, in places outside the more obvious charging stations. Other EV owners offer their personal charging stations near bustling highways or in places as remote as a desert road hours from Las Vegas.

Recently, Renault Group launched Elbnb, a website and application in Sweden that maps out charging stations for EVs. The homeowners who have signed up to share their own plugs have increased the number of charging stations available in the country by 3.5 percent in two weeks, said Karin Karlsson, a spokeswoman for Renault Sweden.

Airbnb has partnered with Tesla Motors to offer dozens of free charging stations to top hosts, who hope to attract EV drivers as customers.

The hodgepodge of private charging stations has led to a few challenges. One of them has been finding an accessible charging station – such as the popular Nissan Leaf looking for a CHAdeMO fast charging station. Another EV driver might be looking for a Level 2 or fast charger, but can only find network members with Level 1 slow chargers in their garages.

For Ashley Horvat, PlugShare’s vice president for strategic initiatives, the private individuals offering up their home charging stations for public use highlight what’s wrong with current EV charging infrastructure: It’s scattered, Horvat says and can lead to searching for public charging stations.

“When you’re stuck somewhere and you see that there’s someone who has a charger, that’s a great opportunity,” Horvat says. “But it’s not going to be a replacement for public charging.”

]]>http://www.hybridcars.com/ev-drivers-tapping-into-shared-resources-to-take-away-range-anxiety/feed/0Nissan Leaf To Be First Mass-Produced EV Sold In Puerto Ricohttp://www.hybridcars.com/nissan-leaf-to-be-first-mass-produced-ev-sold-in-puerto-rico/
http://www.hybridcars.com/nissan-leaf-to-be-first-mass-produced-ev-sold-in-puerto-rico/#commentsWed, 16 Jul 2014 15:35:01 +0000http://www.hybridcars.com/?p=169329An online newspaper report from Puerto Rico indicates Nissan will begin sales today of its all-electric Leaf. From now through July 31 pre-orders are being accepted with first deliveries expected in August. Orders are being taken by Nissan dealer, Adriel Auto in the town of Toa Baja, which is west of San Juan. The entry […]

From now through July 31 pre-orders are being accepted with first deliveries expected in August. Orders are being taken by Nissan dealer, Adriel Auto in the town of Toa Baja, which is west of San Juan.

The entry level S trim level Leaf starts at a higher-than-mainland-U.S.-price of $33,480.

A new law, 81-2014, was approved July 2 to reimburse 100-percent of the import tariffs for every eligible new-tech vehicle. For the Leaf, this is estimated at $7,070.76, or approximately 21 percent.

The purpose of the law is obviously to promote environmentally friendly technologies.

Presently, Puerto Rico is one location Chevrolet has not sent the Volt or Spark EV to, Tesla does not officially sell its Model S there yet, but tropical climates are ideal for electrified cars, and Nissan will be the first mass-produced EV with more brands expected.

Reportedly BMW aims to bring its i3 to Puerto Rico in time as well, but alternative energy fans have been otherwise nearly shut out from choices available now, and looked-forward-to in the mainland U.S. and other markets.

An article in Spanish from the largest local newspaper, El Nuevo Dia says there are 52 level 2 chargers planted, but PlugShare says there are 11.

According to GM-Volt.com regular commenter, and Puerto Rico-based retired engineer, Raymondjram, there is an agreement between power utility company PREPA and Nissan to install more stations, including a Level 3 station. These will use the CHAdeMO connector standard Nissan has adopted.

To see the entire news report, if you do not read Spanish, try using Google Translate and drop in the text of the Spanish-language news piece linked here.

Or, of course, if you read Spanish, just click on the Web site’s link!

]]>http://www.hybridcars.com/nissan-leaf-to-be-first-mass-produced-ev-sold-in-puerto-rico/feed/0Ford Adds PlugShare To MyFord Mobilehttp://www.hybridcars.com/ford-adds-plugshare-to-myford-mobile/
http://www.hybridcars.com/ford-adds-plugshare-to-myford-mobile/#commentsThu, 07 Feb 2013 17:03:07 +0000http://www.hybridcars.com/?p=53062Ford is adding a charging a charging station finder to MyFord Mobile. The new function is powered by PlugShare.com and will be compatible with the new Ford Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid vehicles. Ford said PlugShare provides a live database of charging stations across North America. In addition to aggregating publicly available lists […]

]]>Ford is adding a charging a charging station finder to MyFord Mobile.

The new function is powered by PlugShare.com and will be compatible with the new Ford Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Ford said PlugShare provides a live database of charging stations across North America. In addition to aggregating publicly available lists of stations from a variety of sources, PlugShare incorporates crowd-sourced information from users to provide the most comprehensive dataset available.

“When we launched the MyFord Mobile app and portal for the Focus Electric last year, it was the most advanced remote management app of its kind in the industry,” said Bill Frykman, business and product development manager. “We’re now expanding availability of the system to drivers of our new plug-in hybrids and offering some unique features specifically tailored to these long-range vehicles.”

Owners of the first-ever Ford plug-in hybrid vehicles can now use their smartphones from almost anywhere to monitor and manage the battery charging process, find charging stations, check energy efficiency and earn achievements for efficient driving.

“It is a little known fact that the majority of charging stations are currently free to use. By giving drivers a clear view of the reality of charging, PlugShare and Ford are showing more and more drivers that now is a great time to start driving on electricity,” said Forrest North, CEO of Xatori, maker of PlugShare. “With our real-time, crowd-sourcing features that include photos, reviews and check-ins, PlugShare has quickly become one of the largest and most popular charging station locators in North America. We are thrilled an established industry leader such as Ford has chosen PlugShare for MyFord Mobile.”

According to Ford, the station finder component of the MyFord Mobile app now blends point-of-interest search with charging station information from PlugShare.com to let drivers take advantage of opportunistic charging wherever their destination might be. Users can search for terms such as “pizza” or “Mexican food” near a location and MyFord Mobile will display the results along with the nearest available charge for each entry. Drivers can select a destination based on proximity to a plug.

“Access to public charging allows our C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi customers to drive more electric miles – helping improve our environmental footprint and improve energy security,” said Mike Tinskey, director, Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure. “We’ve seen impressive growth in the number of installed public charge stations – growing from fewer than 3,000 units in 2010 to more than 11,500 installed units in the U.S. today. This collaboration allows for Ford customers to access all the currently installed stations, as well as gain immediate access to new charge stations as they are installed.”

Ford added that MyFord Mobile’s trip and charge log has also been updated to provide drivers with information about how efficiently they are using their plug-in hybrid vehicle in both electric and hybrid mode. By taking advantage of available data on electricity use, hybrid gas mileage and regenerative braking, the app coaches drivers to adjust their driving style to be more efficient.

The MyFord Mobile app and website still lets plug-in hybrid owners check the state of charge of the battery, get alerts if they forgot to plug the car in or if charging stops, and take advantage of value charging for the lowest electricity rates during off-peak hours. Drivers can also precondition the cabin temperature while the car is plugged in to reduce the load on the drivetrain for enhanced efficiency.

“We designed MyFord Mobile to provide owners of Ford plug-in vehicles with a convenient way to monitor and manage their total energy usage, and we’re continually working to make the experience better,” added Frykman.

MyFord Mobile is available in the Apple iOS App Store for iPhones and the Google Play Store for Android phones.